The move was announced last week – not long after a report by the financial services regulator into practices at the Middle East bank identified serious failings there between 2008 and 2012.
HSBC have confirmed that the move of the bank’s headquarters and place of incorporation from Jersey to Dubai will affect eight members of staff, by that they’ll work to find alternative jobs for them here.
A statement from the bank said: “HSBC Bank Middle East Limited (‘HBME’), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc, which is currently incorporated and has its head office in Jersey, confirms that it intends to transfer its place of incorporation and head office to the Dubai International Financial Centre.
“This is subject to regulatory and all other applicable approvals.
“Following the relocation, HBME will be lead-regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority.
“This re-location, which is expected to complete during 2016, will have no impact on any of HBME’s local regulatory relationships in the MENA region, nor on its business in the countries in which it operates. Further announcements will be made if and when necessary.”
At the start of this month, a report by the Jersey Financial Services Commission into practices at the bank from 2008 to 2012 found that they failed to detect sanction breaches, did not identify high-risk clients and did not report suspicious activity by clients quickly enough.
That report concluded with the financial services regulator saying that the bank had since cleaned up its act.
The bank has been based here since 1994.
Early reports suggested that up to 100 jobs would be affected, but HSBC have made it clear that the figure referred to staff moving between offices in Dubai.